Page 56 - Spielbox_2_2020

them in other spaces, albeit with a lower score.
As suggested by the title of the game, all this adds quite some spice to the dice-rolling fare. It provides more flexi- bility in dealing with the initial roll, and makes it easier to switch to another tactic, requiring a constantly new orientation in your assessment of chances and risks. For each decision, you have to consider the economic component as well. If you go about it economically at the beginning, you’ll be able later on to defy the erratic
Spicy
The basic principle is almost a yawn: Players try to get rid of their cards by putting them in turns on the pile in the middle of the table. The Spicy cards come in three “hot” suits – chili, pepper, wasabi – with values from 1 to 10. The first player starts with a “1,” “2” or “3”; after that, the next player has to play a higher card of the same suit. As
Lady Luck by having additional rolls and thus ride your luck in a situation when your opportunity would otherwise have been gone. The other way around, you can avoid a bad start by re-rolling more frequently, in the hope of making up for the increased expenditure in the long run.
Rolling the dice “as many times as you want,” as the instructions read, can also mean to waive a roll, as the company confirmed upon request. This option can actually make sense if only space 1 or space 2 is unoccupied and therefore the
ers being allowed to change suits? Well, that is what happens with a yet-unmen- tioned little trick: You play your cards face down, not face up, and this makes for the fun with Spicy that is not based on the discarding mechanism, but on the com- munication at the table. Here, players bluff and lie that it is a joy to behold. They
call out “Wasabi 2” –
expected score is too low for still making any expenditure for that. The expense of acquiring a copy of this game, however, is likely not to disappoint the expectations you might have – provided you are recep- tive for such dice battles.
L. U. Dikus/sbw
s
f
s
s
o
o
o
o
n
a
n
a
s
a
fi
c
i
e
n
t
t
o
s
a
y
h
y
h
a
a
l
l
f
Wasabi 7” – “Wasabi “
Spicy is wonderfully casual and brisk, and it works perfectly well, also with a larger number of players. This is also due to the fact that anybody who doesn’t believe a player’s announcement can intervene anytime. If somebody declares the “Chili 10” too casually when the “9” forces him to say so, it looks suspicious, in my opinion. If somebody is too hesitant and announces the “Chili 10” with a sigh, he is probably just acting. But I won’t be takeninbysomethinglikethat.
Spicy is not going so well if the players are too honest and take a card from the pile rather than lie. This is extremely rare, though. But if it happens pretty often, the World’s End card, initially inserted somewhere in the bottom section of the draw pile, comes up too soon. In this case, the game is over prematurely. Normally, once a player has managed to get rid of his hand cards, he is awarded a Trophy card, worth ten victory points. Then that player takes six cards into his hand, as in the beginning, and the game contin- ues. As soon as this has happened three times, the alternative end takes place. In any case, players finally add up all the Spicy cards they have accumulated, plus a 10-point card, if they have one. Victory is nice, but not particularly important; that’s because every successful lie during the game was already a kind of reward.
Harald Schrapers/sbw
“
W
0” – “Wasabi 3”. Is 1
1
t
0
t
hat true? Nobody
h
nows. Until one of k
k
n
t
he players loses his
t
h
p
patience, puts his
h
hand on the discard
p
pile, and says, “This
i
is not wasabi.” Alter-
n
natively, he can also
a
allege that it is not
a
a “3.” But he has to
make the decision as to whether he thinks it’s a wrong number or a wrong suit. The author is lenient with
liars. Often, it is suf- the truth. No wasabi? But yes, it actually is wasabi. Well, it’s not a “3,” but a “7,” but that doesn’t matter – the challenging player loses. As a penalty, he has to take two new cards from the draw pile, whereas his opponent gains the entire discard pile; each card from that pile is worth one victory point. The other way around (the cheater was suc-
cessfully revealed), it would be the same. After that, the loser of the challenge starts a new round by playing a “1,” “2” or “3.” Now, finally, the player can declare
chili or pepper instead.
afi
c
t
i
e
n
t
t
o
s
a
“10” has been laid out, the next card has to be another “1,” “2” or “3” of the same suit. The “10” and, with restrictions, also the “9” can be used most frequently; but the “3” is also very valuable. This might be the result of an analysis, but such con- siderations regarding a relatively trivial objective seem overly academic, espe- cially since that’s already almost all there is to the rules.
It might be surprising that a game like Spicy is the title I currently play the most. But how can the game work without play-
TOP
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
54
Chili Dice (Amigo) by Andy
Daniel; for 1–4 players,
about 8+ years; duration:
about 30 minutes; price: about 14 €.
Spicy (Heidelbär Games)
by Zoltán Gy´o´ri; for 2–5
players, about 8+ years;
duration: about 15 minutes; price: about 15 €.
spielbox